His Queen From Two Worlds

CHAPTER 7: ACCIDENT? ASSASINATION?

“Sorry to keep you waiting, grandmother,” the crown prince’s voice said as soon as he stepped into the large dining room.

The queen was waiting for the couple at the head position. She turned her head, her grandchildren came into her view. They walked towards her holding hands, their fingers interlinked.

“I can understand, but you have work,” the queen said. Right now, she wasn’t the queen. Right now she was just a grandmother.

“We’re sorry, Grandma,” Zelda said, reaching the dining table. Ray slowly pulled the chair back and pushed it back after helping Zelda to settle down. “But it was my fault, grandma. I was acting stubborn.”

Ray silently let the ladies talk, slipping onto the chair to the right of the queen. Butler Albert, standing a step behind the queen’s chair, signalled the other servants under him to bring out the dishes. A few seconds later, along with the servants, one of the chefs came, holding the delicious meals for the royal family.

“Protective much” Lilian said with a hint of a smile on her face, eliciting small chuckles from the couple. Lilian smiled, a thought suddenly passed through her brain, after watching their faces. She was sure that Ray was exhausted and Zelda would be too, after tonight’s concert. “Right! How about you two taking a few days off from work? Starting tomorrow?”

Ray and Zelda looked at them before they both exchanged glances. Queen Lilian, noticing the facial expressions, understood that they might need some time to think. She waved her hand, a sign for the servants to start serving.

They waited till the queen took her first bite, then followed her. Both the queen and the future queen were enjoying the lunch, speaking in hushed tones to get a certain someone in their thoughts.

“Yes, grandmother. I guess they will ask me to perform for the year-ending concert this time. I wonder how it will go through. I mean we still have many months left” The redhead spoke, enjoying her food.

“I hope to see you on stage this year, honey” The queen wished, happy inside to see Zelda enjoying the lunch.

“This time, no matter how the schedule changes, I will perform this year for sure” Zelda was determined to perform in the year-end concert this year. She debuted as a singer when she was twenty. Now she was twenty-three. Every time because of schedule clashes or something happening, she couldn’t perform at the year-end concert on December thirty-first, midnight concert.

“Maybe the day after tomorrow” Ray suddenly said, earning confusing gazes from his grandmother and his finance.

“What do you mean, Ray?” Zelda and the queen stopped eating.

Ray went out of his thoughts and turned his head to look at the ladies. They had that inquiry look on their faces.

“Sorry,” he said and gave an overall glance. “I was talking about your suggestion, grandmother. That few days off work”

The queen showed visible happiness on her face when she heard her grandson mentioning the small break she thought of for the couple.

“So? What do you think? After today’s concert, Zelda would let the real exhaustion sink into her body. You just returned from an exhausting business trip”

Ray nodded his head in agreement to his grandmother and waited until her grandmother finished. “I agree, we need some rest but maybe from the day after tomorrow if my investigation and interrogation continue.”

The words investigation and interrogation brought sober expressions to the cheerful faces of the queens. Right. Zelda almost got killed last night and if it wasn’t for quick reflexes, they might be waiting for her in the hospital part of the palace.

They needed to investigate this matter privately because it was just an accident in the eyes of the public. In addition to that, they didn’t want to alert their enemies.

“First, we need to find out whether the car was damaged before or if it was deliberately tampered with”, Zelda suggested, because she wanted to think positively and that it was a simple coincidence.

“Too much of a coincidence, Zelda”, Ray looked at her. “It is as if it was planned. Overreacting to a simple comment? There are worse things than a simple comment in a car racing club. As if they know, you would be protective of people around you and the last one is very suspicious. Challenging you. You would never back down from a challenge, and they did exactly that.”

“But I was in my disguise. Less than ten people know how I look in my disguise. If they did target me, how did they even recognize me? All the people who know my disguise are people who know the royal secret and all these people are fiercely loyal to the throne”, Zelda said freely when she noticed the other servants were no longer in the room. They were ordered to leave by Butler Albert.

“That was what I would like to know” A grim look marred on the crown prince’s face and his countenance went dark at the thought of someone trying to kill Zelda. Like hell, he would let that happen.

“Be careful both of you” The queen sighed at the couple.

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The couple finished their lunch and, after informing the queen, they both left the palace. Now they stood outside the palace in front of their waiting cars along with their security teams.

Zelda noticed that there were more members than the usual members of her security team. Both of them were walking holding each other’s hands. Noticing the subtle change in her security team, she looked at the crown prince when they reached her car.

“Is it just me or has the members of my security team increased?” She asked.

Halting in their steps, the crown prince turned to Zelda to face him. Without another word, he pulled her into a hug, hiding his face on her shoulder. He didn’t want to let her go. If she agreed, he would turn around and march into his room without looking back, but he knew it was just his wishful thinking. Who knows, she might beat him up for that.

“I don’t want to take any chances” he mumbled on her shoulder. His breath was on her exposed shoulder.

“Come on” Zelda tried to pull herself from the hug, but he just hugged her tighter. “You’re acting clingy today, Ray. We both have matters to attend to.”

The bodyguards were surprised by their crown prince. Normally, it was their future queen who would act clingy and stubborn. Their crown prince rarely acted like that. And in those rare situations, it was their future queen who would scold him and this day was one such rare day.

Ray, knowing he couldn’t let her have any more delays, pulled back himself and gave her a quick peck on her lips. He couldn’t give her a full kiss because they were sr

“I hope the day ends soon,” he said, looking forward to the small break his grandmother suggested.

“Me too,” Zelda said.

Ray, with a small smile on his face, pulled himself away from her and opened the luxurious car door for her. He helped her to get into the van to his satisfaction. Once she was in, she opened the glass door, looking at him to continue.

“I will attend your show and I will try to end these things soon.”

“Hm,” Zelda nodded her head, satisfied.

He stepped back and waited till her car and the security went from his sight. His light expression turned dark as he hissed “Let’s go, Ralph!”